Man convicted of assault with a hedgehog

A man has been convicted of assault after hitting a teenager with a hedgehog
and asking him if he wanted to "wear a hedgehog helmet".

By Nick Squires in Sydney

8:04AM BST 30 May 2008

William Singalargh, 27, was fined for assault and offensive behaviour by a court in Whakatane, in New Zealand.

He was fined NZ$700 and ordered to pay the bulk of it – NZ$500 - to his victim.

The 15-year-old boy was returning home with two friends in February when he was confronted by four men on the road near his house, Whakatane District Court heard.

One of the men, Singalargh, was holding a hedgehog and asked the boy: "Do you want to wear a hedgehog helmet?"

When the boy indicated that he would rather not, Singalargh threw the animal, leaving a large red welt and four quills lodged in the teenager’s hip.

When the boy's mother intervened, Singalargh pulled down his trousers and exposed his buttocks.

He had pleaded not guilty to the charges, claiming he was not the hedgehog hurler.

But judge Ian Thomas preferred the evidence of other witnesses who identified him by the bright orange trousers he was wearing at the time.

A more serious charge of assault with a weapon — the hedgehog — was dropped. Had he been convicted of that charge, he could have been sentenced to five years in prison.

"He admitted to having been in possession of a hedgehog," police Constable Lyndon Reid said. "He originally claimed that the group had been playing hacky sack with it," Const Reid said, referring to a game in which the aim is to keep up a small ball or bean bag in the air.

It was not known whether the hedgehog was dead or alive at the time of the attack, but Senior Sgt Bruce Jenkins said earlier in the case that it was dead when collected as evidence.

European hedgehogs were deliberately introduced to New Zealand and are now considered a pest.